NCJ Number
160856
Journal
Substance Use and Misuse Volume: 31 Issue: 1 Dated: (1996) Pages: 95-101
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This analysis of drug abuse research concludes that to make progress in understanding drug use and misuse, researchers must move away from the simplistic reliance on racial and ethnic labels to a more complex understanding of the impact of the sociocultural variables that such labels represent.
Abstract
Drug abuse research in the United States has focused on ethnicity and race to the detriment of studying the role of nonethnic sociocultural factors. However, the reliance on politically defined ethnic categories has not added to knowledge on the etiology, prevalence, prevention, or treatment of drug use and misuse. Instead, it has reflected the preoccupation with face and ethnicity in the larger United States society and has contributed to further stereotyping of nonwhite ethnic groups. Ethnicity serves as a proxy for several sociocultural factors such as socioeconomic status that are linked to drug use. Therefore, researchers should cease to rely on ethnic labels and resolve to study carefully the impact of a variety of sociocultural variables. This approach will add to knowledge concerning drug abuse in the United States as well as in other countries, cultures, and settings. 27 references (Author abstract modified)